After years of procrastination and fear of the unknown Daniel Wilie is stepping outside of his comfort zone in order to expand Batlground Motorsports LLC. Daniel Willie, owner, tuner, engine builder, fabricator, driver, etc, will fly out on August 27th and stay for 2 weeks for the purpose of bringing back container of the highest quality used JDM, thats Japanese Domestic Market for all you newbies, parts for resale purposes. Daniel Willie will be accompanied by a consultant that has been in the importing business for a number of years. More details on our partnership will be announced at a later date. If you want any items please contact us with your requests and deposits. Stay tuned for more updates and for blog posts while Daniel is in Japan.
Tonight is the night that we have all been waiting for. The Ultimate Car buildoff episode that we did will come on tonight. We will be celebrating this event at Andretti Indoor Games and Carting in Alpharetta, GA. Everyone is invited to attend and the show starts at 9:00 PM. Come early to get a good viewing spot and stay late to party with us afterwards. Hope to see everyone there.
Batlground Motorsports will introduce a monthly automotive basics workshop Sunday, August 1st, 2010. We are sponsoring these workshop sessions for women free of charge and they are intended to supply women an arsenal of vocabulary and knowledge that will give them confidence when it comes to speaking with their automotive service providers and salesmen. The Auto Intuition workshops are open to women of all ages and will be held at the Batlground Motorsports facility in Smyrna, GA on the first Sunday of every month for 2 hours starting at 2:00 pm and will be c0-hosted by Tracy Shayhorn and Daniel Willie. To sign up and for more information, please email tracyshayhorn@gmail.com
So, I was in the local paper here in Atlanta yesterday. Oh did I mention it was the cover of the Living Section…with a color photo? Aside from all of the people who call you to try to sell you something IMMEDIATELY, it’s pretty cool being in the paper. I have been in several magazine and on TV a few times, but this is different. This a mass market that is getting to hear about us and our vision here at Batlground….not the same ole niche of car people that get to see us all of the time. Not that the niche isn’t awesome. Obviously, I am am submerged in the community and love every second of my life and really have the niche to thank for everything. I guess what I mean is that it is nice to feel like I may be able to introduce some of the masses to the niche and maybe one day the niche will be considered big time like NASCAR and all of my dirty racer friends will be rich and famous! Tee Hee. It’s a fantastic dream that I hope comes true one day.
In all honesty, I think the best way to serve the masses is to appeal to women. They run the house these days. They aren’t mousy little housewives that do as told and cook dinner and have babies. They are strong and powerful decision makers who in reality do it all. I think it’s about time everyone realize that…including the women out there. I have been lucky enough to have a less than desirable life turn into an amazing one. I would love nothing more than to pass that on. Maybe the women I am reaching out to didn’t have a rough life, per say. Maybe they had it just fine, but generally got treated like a princess. Either way, some of us want a little something rough and tough in our life other than our men. It makes us feel cool and a little more respected. I am offering it up on a platter.
Anyways, I am really excited to have the opportunity to spread the good word about cars to the women who want to know. I’m not going to sit here and act like a genius when it comes to all of that. The only thing that I have that makes me even a little special is years of experience and a man who is willing to stand side by side with me. I know some women don’t necessarily have the support system I do and I totally get that. That’s why I would like to share mine. I have to admit, Dan was a little worried for me when I started to reach out to women regarding all of this car stuff. Mostly because of the fact that it is rare to see a woman out there doing what I try my best to do — and that makes me “special”. I have worked a lot of years to earn respect and some might say that I am just giving it away for free and trust me…I love being special, but I feel compelled. It could be totally selfish. I am honestly tired of being the only one out there.
Once upon a time, there was a drift event where all of the big name female drifters were (all 3 of them!! Ha Ha)…and I was there, too. I can’t tell you how cool it was to get advice from Verena rather than Dan. She just had a different way of explaining it to me. Somehow she was able to help me understand things that Dan couldn’t. Maybe it’s the way men explain things, maybe it was her demeanor, but whatever it was, it felt real nice to have her and the other girls out there and I will never forget it.
Here is a video from that event. We were totally acting like girls:
Anyhow, red the article. Get all warm and fuzzy and for crying out loud, tell your women — moms, sisters, aunts, nieces, wives, girlfriends — about the things I have coming up. If they have interest in ANY of it, have them email me tracyshayhorn@gmail.com. I am on a mission.
I will list some upcoming events for women below:
August 1st — First Auto Intuition workshop for women
August 15th — First all female drifting event at AMS.
December — Begin using our new Ford Fiesta to teach women how to drive a stick
March — Begin to share our new Ford Fiesta with other women who want to race but don’t have a car
And if you have any other ideas, please feel free to let me know. I am wide open to anything I can help with. I am in the process of trying to get together an all female grip driving day, but booking a venue this late in the season can be tough.
We at Batlground have had the oh-so-unpleasant task of keeping our BIG MOUTHS shut since December. We had been approached about doing a new television show a little less than a year ago and beginning immediately after the Thanksgiving Holiday we started filming.
Here is part of the email we just received: “We have finally gotten an air date out of Discovery Channel!! We are looking at June 21st at 9pm on the Discovery Channel. As of right now, the episodes should roll out on Monday at 9pm from there, in the order they were filmed. A more detailed schedule will be on the Discovery website as soon as they put our page up. I’ll let you know if anything changes. We should start seeing the promotions very soon. Our webpage on Discovery should be up sometime in May.”
The name of the show is “Ultimate Car Build-off” and is hosted by Andrew Comrie-Picard (“ACP” driver of the NOS Energy Drink, Mitsubishi Evolution, Rally car ) , Lou Santiago ( Muscle Car TV show), and Chip Foose (Overhaulin’). I can tell you this past December was maybe one of the best months of my life, personally and professionally. Our Team consisted of Dan, Myself, Justin, Matt, Mark, and Tracy. Please visit the Discovery Channel website for more information as it becomes available.
Just when you thought it was safe with Tracy being eliminated from her show you get the whole shop to deal with now! There will be plenty of fireworks and drama, and I ain’t talking about the Hollywood pyrotechnics kind. We will be posting more information as soon as we get it. Stay tuned for premier party info, I for one want a throw down!
I grew up in northern Ohio. Toledo to be exact. It was a pretty nice place. My family lived in the suburbs and was the definition of middle class. Living in northern Ohio we were only about 45 minutes south of Detroit. GM and Ford dominated the landscape. My family is a Ford family. Let me be more specific about that statement. When I started to care and pay attention to cars my dad had a 85′ turbo 4 cyl. Mercury Cougar, followed by a 88′ Lincoln Mark VII LSC, 91′ 5.0 Thunderbird LX, 94′ Lincoln Mark VIII ( the first car I broke 100 mph in), and another Thunderbird LX (97′ 4.6 with SE options). That last part is important because it wasn’t a Thunderbird SE or just an LX. My dad is way more savy than that. He wanted the color and features of an LX but the wheels and performance of the SE. During those developmental years my mother had a Dodge Shelby Charger with the turbo 2.2-not a Ford but at the time a really freaking cool car. She also had a Ranger, which I had to learn how to drive stick in before I could get my drivers license. Then after that she had a F-150. My brother had a slew of Fords as well. His first new car was a Escort LX, he also had a 92 Mustang GT, and a 95 Cobra. In 1997 my dad and I went to the Detroit Auto Show, we went nearly every year. This particular year I got to see the Contour SVT for the first time. I told my dad at that show that I would have that car one day. In 1998 I got one. A 1998.5 to be exact. That is important because that .5 meant I got the cool wheels and 5 extra hp. I have also had a 2000 Explorer, and a 2002 Focus. To this day the Contour SVT is one of my favorite cars I have ever had.
This year Ford is bringing us the Fiesta. The Fiesta has been in the Euro market and done pretty well. For 2010 it has been slated to replace the Focus in U.S. Rally and next year it will be in the WRC. This car has impressed enough to persuade Ken Block to leave the safety and security of Subaru. The Subaru was on another level of performance- so to me that means the Fiesta must be something really special. Now I know Ford will not be offering the 800 whp(capable) turbo awd version that will be used in the rally series, but what if we do get a turbo awd drive version? Will our scene embrace the new car or relegate it to the scrap heap with the likes of the Pinto, Escort EXP, ZX2, and Focus SVT? As of right now Ford has not published any plans on offering us anything but the 1.6 liter, fwd econobox-which still might be fun with proper modifications and upgrades. However Subaru did not release that the STi was coming state side till only a couple of months before it went on sale. Mitsubishi pulled the same maneuver. We got the Lancer, a few people got suckered into buying it, thinking it was going to be supported in the after market or that it could be converted into a EVO. Then a year or two later they actually brought us the EVO. Could Ford do the same? Would the market be there for it to succeed at the level the STi and EVO have? Or will it be just another teaser, another fantasy for us to lust after, wishing we could have what the kids across the pond take for granted? We will have to wait and see, our hopes at this time depend on Mr. Block and his success or failure.
What would you do? We are trying to make ourselves better. In the past we have been a little content being the best. We make the highest horsepower cars and we have an impecable track record of not blowing up cars. This has allowed us to remain at or near the top of performance shops in Atlanta. I have made the statement in previous posts about how we change and adapt with our customers and trends. With that in mind-what is it that you would like to see out of us next? What is something we do well and you would like to see more of? What are we doing now that you think we should stop? How can we better serve you?
After literally months of testing different configurations and verifying tolerences, we finally received the correct rockers for our LS6 motor. Once these get installed we can measure and order the push-rods. After that its just a matter of bolting on the manifolds, valve covers, and accessories till its fully assembled. Then we can let er’ eat! Thanks to the guys at Thunder Racing for all their help. Our new goal for the car is to have it done and track ready by March 6th. Still lots of work to be done but if we can get all the mechanical tasks knocked out the car can be shook down. Stay tuned!
We are getting rid of our Tial inventory. We are trying to make room for some new products. Here is a list of what we have:
1 silver BOV no spring.
3 silver BOV 11 psi springs.
1 silver 44mm w/g 1.4 bar (20.3 psi)
1 silver 44mm w/g 1.2 bar (17.4 psi)
1 silver 44mm w/g 1.1 bar (15.9 psi)
1 silver 38mm w/g 1.3 bar (18.8 psi)
1 silver 38mm w/g .6 bar (8.7 psi)
Call, Email, or PM for Prices. WE WILL NOT BE BEAT ON THESE PRICES!!!
We also have:
5 aluminum BOV Flanges, 4 Stainless 44mm w/g inlet flanges, and 2 stainless 44mm w/g outlet flanges
USED Tial 40mm w/g (square 4 bolt design) no spring or air fittings. This model has been discontinued so if you have one it would be a good back up, or if you have a manifold that supports it. We have springs available and it comes with all mounting hardware and flanges. $175(with spring)
USED Tial 38mm w/g 1.2 bar (17.4) missing outlet flange. $200 (outlet flanges available)
NEW Samco Sport BOV/Diverter Valve model number DVA-1P-001 (silver) $100
Saturday! Saturday!!SATURDAY!!! Thanks to Tracy and her connections she made while trying out to be a driver for the Grave Digger team and Live Nation, we had the privledge of going behind the scenes at Monster Jam this past weekend. IT WAS AWESOME! I had been to Monster Jam once before and it was a great time even in the nose bleed seats. There is just something deeply gratifying and carnal about watching 10,000 pound trucks crush cars and jump 40-50 feet in the air. Mix in some pre-party (as well as some during) cocktails, 8 grown adults acting like kids, and some flannel: What you get is a hootin and hollerin good ol’ time! I mean lets be honest, 65,000 screaming fans can’t be wrong. Monster jam is a great time. Special thanks to Mike, Henry and Dan for the access and information. It was very insightful hanging out and getting the inside information on how the trucks are built and maintained. See y’all next year!
Check out Tracy during her monster truck driver ed-u-ma-cation. HOOOO YEEAAAHHH!!!!
have to be real. I rarely have day without conflict. I suppose this is true for everyone, but there have been a lot of times when I feel like my life is consumed with it. […]
